Chapter 4: Mate

After Santiago disappeared into the crowd, I needed a moment to collect myself. My skin was still tingling where he'd touched me, and my wolf was restless, confused by the multiple mate bonds pulling at me.

"I need another drink," I told Sienna, fanning my flushed face.

"Good idea. I'll come with." She linked her arm through mine, steering us toward the bar.

As we approached, I spotted Marco immediately. He was serving someone else, but his eyes tracked my movement across the room like a predator watching prey. When the customer left, he made his way over to us, his full attention focused on me.

"Back for another round, Callista?" His voice was rougher than before, edged with something dark and possessive.

"Yes, please." I slid onto a bar stool, hyperaware of how my dress rode up my thighs. Marco's eyes followed the movement before snapping back to my face.

"Same thing? Or you want to try something different?" The way he said 'different' made heat pool in my belly.

"Surprise me," I said, then immediately regretted it when his eyes flashed that bright wolf green again.

"I can do that." He leaned forward on the bar, bringing his face closer to mine. "You smell incredible, by the way. Like cherries and something sweeter. Drives me crazy."

My breath hitched. The mate bond was pulling tighter, making me want to lean in, to close the distance between us.

"Marco." A deep voice cut through the moment. "You working or flirting?"

I turned to find Santiago standing beside my bar stool, his jaw tight with irritation. Behind him, Mateo approached with that same predatory grace, his amber eyes fixed on me with unsettling intensity.

Marco straightened but didn't back down. "Can't I do both?"

"Not when she's with me." Santiago's hand found the small of my back, warm and possessive.

"Funny," Marco said, his smile sharp. "I don't see your name on her."

The tension between them crackled like electricity. My wolf was caught between wanting to submit to their dominance and wanting to snap at them both for acting like I was property.

"Guys," I started, but Mateo interrupted.

"She's not with anyone yet." His voice was cold, controlled. "Which means she's free to choose."

Choose? My head was spinning. This morning, I'd been in a relationship with Luca. Now I had three gorgeous men acting like they wanted to claim me.

"I need a drink," I said firmly, looking at Marco. "Please."

He held my gaze for a long moment, then nodded. "Coming right up, sweetheart."

Santiago's hand tightened on my back as Marco turned away. "You don't have to choose him."

"I'm not choosing anyone right now," I said, trying to sound confident even though my heart was racing. "I just broke up with my boyfriend today. This is all... a lot."

Mateo pulled up the bar stool next to mine, sitting close enough that our knees almost touched. "The one from the live stream? Luca Rodriguez?"

"You saw that too?" God, everyone had seen my meltdown.

"The whole campus saw it." Mateo's lips curved slightly—not quite a smile, but close. "You handled yourself well. Most Omegas would have cried and run. You fought back."

"I'm not most Omegas." The words came out fiercer than I intended.

"No," Santiago agreed, his thumb stroking circles on my lower back. "You're definitely not."

Marco returned with a drink—something pink and fruity with a cherry on top. "Amaretto sour. Sweet with a bite. Thought it suited you."

I picked up the glass, acutely aware of all three men watching me. The first sip was perfect—sweet amaretto balanced with tart lemon, smooth and dangerous.

"Good?" Marco asked.

"Really good." I popped the cherry in my mouth, and Marco's eyes darkened.

"I bet you taste just as sweet," he murmured. "Cherry-sweet with that Omega spice underneath."

Heat flooded through me at his words. My nipples tightened against the thin fabric of my dress, and I knew they could all see it. Could smell my arousal mixing with my cherry scent.

Santiago's hand slid higher on my back, his fingers tracing my spine through the dress. "Careful, Marco. You're making our girl uncomfortable."

Our girl. The possessive claim in those words made my wolf purr even as my brain screamed that this was insane.

"Am I making you uncomfortable, Callista?" Marco leaned across the bar, close enough that I could see the silver flecks in his green eyes. "Because your scent says otherwise."

"I..." Words failed me. Because he was right. I wasn't uncomfortable—I was aroused. Confused, overwhelmed, but definitely not uncomfortable.

Mateo's hand rested on my knee, the touch light but deliberate. "You're allowed to want this. Want us."

"I don't even know you," I protested weakly.

"Then let us fix that." Santiago's lips brushed the shell of my ear, making me shiver. "Dance with me again. Let me show you I'm more than just the bad boy basketball player."

"And I'll make you another drink," Marco added. "On the house. Give you something to think about."

"And I'll make sure no one bothers you while you figure this out," Mateo finished, his hand squeezing my knee gently.

They were tag-teaming me, and my traitorous body was responding to all of it. Every touch sent sparks through my skin. Every word made my heart race faster. The mate bond—or bonds, plural—was pulling me in three different directions at once.

This shouldn't be possible. You were supposed to have one mate. One person who completed you. Not three devastatingly attractive men who all seemed determined to claim me.

"This drink isn't on the house," Marco said suddenly, his voice dropping to something darker, more intimate. "It's on me. Personal gift from me to you, sweetheart."

His sharp canines flashed when he smiled, and I couldn't help but imagine those teeth scraping down my neck, marking me—

No. Stop. I couldn't think like that.

"I need to use the bathroom," I blurted out, sliding off the bar stool. All three hands fell away from me, leaving cold spots where warmth had been.

"We'll be here," Santiago promised, his dark eyes intense. "Waiting for you."

"Take your time, Callista," Mateo added, though his expression said he didn't want me to take any time at all.

"Come back soon, sweetheart," Marco called as I grabbed my purse and practically fled.

The bathroom was brighter, quieter—a refuge from the overwhelming male attention. I leaned against the sink, staring at my reflection.

My cheeks were flushed, my eyes bright. My lips were swollen from biting them, and my hair was slightly mussed from dancing. I looked... alive. More alive than I'd felt in years.

Luca had never made me feel like this. He'd never looked at me with that hungry intensity, never touched me like he was afraid I'd disappear. He'd been content to keep me at arm's length, to play his games and make his bets.

But these three men—Marco, Santiago, Mateo—they looked at me like I was something precious and dangerous at the same time. Like they wanted to worship me and devour me in equal measure.

Was this what it felt like to be truly desired? Not just wanted, but needed?

I pulled out my lip gloss, hands shaking slightly as I reapplied it. The girl in the mirror looked different from the one who'd stood in Luca's apartment hours ago. That girl had been broken, hurt, ready to cry.

This girl was fierce. Powerful. Ready to take what she wanted.

And what did I want?

The answer scared me because it was all three of them. I wanted Marco's rough voice and silver piercings. I wanted Santiago's bad boy charm and protective touch. I wanted Mateo's cold control and the promise of darkness in his eyes.

I wanted to stop being the good girl who did what she was told. I wanted to be the Omega who made alphas compete for her attention.

My phone buzzed. A text from Sienna: "Where are you? The tension at this bar could cut glass. These boys are ready to fight over you!”

CHAPTER 5

EVERY BIT HOW I FEEL

When I finally stepped out of the bathroom, still feeling the weight of the presence I now carried, I didn’t expect to walk straight into temptation wearing a human shape.

“Ouu!” The words slipped out of my mouth the moment my eyes laid on him. Which was weird because I should've gotten a whiff of his scent.

He was leaning against the wall opposite the door, arms crossed over his chest, ankles casually overlapped like he had all the time in the world. But his eyes told a different story as they raked my form–dark and hungry… fixed entirely on me.

“Again, Luca Rodriguez was a fool.”

I tried to keep my wolf at bay as I tried not to squirm. Neon lights pooled the hallway, hitting his face at just the right angle, casting shadows across his jaw in a way that made him look carved from night itself.

My heart tripped so violently I almost reached back for the bathroom door. Instead, I drew in a breath and forced a smirk on my lips.

“Well,” I said, lifting one eyebrow, trying so damn hard to pretend he didn’t affect me, “couldn’t stay away from me for five minutes?”

His answering smile was slow and dark, like danger wrapped in silk. The kind of smile you'd runaway from if it was coming from someone ugly.

“Not when you smell like that.” His voice dropped to that gravelly wolf-vibe that always slid right down my spine.

Before I could even inhale again, he pushed off the wall. In two strides he closed the distance between us, and then my back hit the opposite wall with a soft thud.

By now, my wolf was wagging its tail as my breath caught.

Santiago braced one hand beside my head, caging me in. His other hand rested lazily on my hips, thumb brushing against the skin there like he was memorizing it.

“What are you doing?” I strangled out, keeping my voice even.

“Callie…” he murmured, his eyes tracing the lines on my lips. “Let me claim you.”

The words crashed through me like a shockwave. Claim?

The one thing every she-wolf whispered about with excitement that seemed to drug them and it was the only thing I never thought a wolf would do to my nerdy omega ass.

I shook my head, even though my knees were already turning to water.

“Santiago, I… I can’t.” My voice wobbled. “I don– I’m not ready for that.”

His jaw flexed, frustration and something deeper flickering through his eyes, but he didn’t push. Instead, he exhaled slowly, the warm breath hitting my lips with a little tease.

How can someone be so inviting? I just want to run my finger along his— focus Callie!

“Then let me have something,” he whispered, leaning in until our foreheads touched and I could feel the steady, restrained rumble of his wolf beneath his skin.

“A taste. A little moment. Anything, please.” His voice cracked just slightly. “Can I at least kiss you? I need to feel you again. I’m starving, Callie.”

Did Santiago Dela-cruz just beg me?

The confession punched through my chest, because fucking moons! I needed a taste of him too.

My head moved in a positive nod before I allowed myself think about the consequences of my decision. I let my body betray me in the worst– and best– way possible.

In an instant, his lips met mine.

Holy Selene!

The kiss didn’t start gentle. It wasn’t slow or sweet or cautious. It was a collision, raw and electric like he’d been holding himself back for too long and the second he got permission, his restraint snapped.

One hand grabbed my waist firmly His fingers almost getting past the fabric of my dress. The fingers in his second hand slid into my hair, pulling me closer as his body pressed against mine, breathing solid heat into me.

He kissed me like he needed it to breathe, and I responded like I’d been waiting for this my whole damn life. My hands fisted in his shirt, dragging him even closer. It felt like we were burning but this fire wasn't the type you'd want to quench.

His wolf growled–a deep, low vibration that rumbled through his chest and into me, making me gasp against his mouth. I was not only drunk in the heat from his touch, but from his intoxicating scent.

Luca could never come close.

My back was warm from his palms now, his tongue delving deep into my mouth, his fingers splayed wide as if holding me in place was the only thing keeping him sane.

And for a moment, just a moment, the world outside that hallway disappeared. There was only him, only us, only heat and breath and want.

And then… A scream tore through the air. A loud, high-pitched shriek that sounded like someone had walked in on a murder scene.

“OH MY GOD… CALLIE!”

Santiago jerked back slightly, chest rising and falling like he was barely holding himself together. I blinked, lips swollen, oxygen not fully returned to my lungs yet.

Standing a few feet away, frozen like she’d just caught her grandmother pole dancing, was Stella.

Just great!

Her eyes were huge, her mouth hanging open so wide I could see the back of her throat.

“Oh no,” I whispered under my breath.

Santiago growled in what sounded like disappointment as Stella pointed at us like we’d committed the worst crime.

Because of course.

Of course the moon would give me Santiago’s mouth, and Stella’s scream on the same night. The universe clearly had a personal vendetta against me.

“Stella–” I was saying, but she cut me short.

“Wow. You're not only an omega, but also a whore.”

Stella's words stung more than they should, I mean, I should be used to her insults, but something about what I was feeling for three men made it sting differently.

“You should mind the way you speak to people,” Santiago warned, but Jessica was far from reasoning.

“Why did I just walk in on you kissing my step sister Santiago? I mean, of all the she–wolves in this club— my step sister?”

Just then, Matteo and Marco walked in on the whole showdown and embarrassment flooded my cheeks. Rather than a response to Stella’s question, Santiago glared at Marco and Matteo, the type that said— ‘I knew you led her here’.

“What the hell were you thinking, kissing this—” she sized me up and down with her eyes, lost for words to describe me. Unable to take in the stares and scrutiny, my legs moved.

No matter how many times all three men tried to make me stop running, I didn't stop. Tears flooded my vision and I could finally feel the rush of all the alcohol I had taken tonight hit me.

“Stupid! Stupid! Stop crying over words you've heard a lot of times,” I chided myself, stopping right in front of my car.

With shaky hands, I reached into my purse for my car keys and fished them out the moment the metallic thing came in contact with my fingers. Getting into the driver's seat, I inserted the key in its hole. The engine revved to life– at least pretended to– before dying again.

I tried, again and again, but no matter how many times I twisted the key, the engine never stayed working. In frustration, I got down from the vehicle and reached for my phone. It was better to order an Uber than stay around this vicinity another minute.

I was still scrolling through my phone when a particular rain scent hit my nostrils.

“Marco,” I called the name in my head before I lifted my head to meet his gaze. He placed his hands softly over mine, squeezing gently without breaking eye contact.

“Let me take you back to your dorm.”

I don't think he knew just how much his thought sent a wave of heat and butterflies to my stomach.

“Okay.”

Like a simple command, he turned around and headed towards his car. I followed quietly behind him, thinking about what his physique would look like under his clothes.

I was still in my thoughts when I ran into a wall– sorry, Marco– I didn't realise he had stopped.

“I guess you've had too many Jacks tonight.”

I nodded my head, not bothering to correct him. He went around and opened the passenger door. I got in, watching as he went round and got into the driver's seat.

“Callie…”

I turned at the sound of my name, staring at his side profile as he pulled out of where he was parked and into the streets. I swallowed, watching as his muscles flexed when he turned the steering wheel.

Can someone get any sexier??

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure. As long as it doesn't have to do with me kidding you.”

He turned to stare at me, his eyes growing darker than they were a few seconds ago.